By: Mahanoor Waqar
Pakistan Navy is achieving new milestones while taking many steps to ensure and enhance its capabilities. Recently conducted AMAN exercise 2021 was a clear example of the Pakistan Navy’s efforts to ensure peace and stability in the region. Pakistan Navy is working on many areas of strategic significance like CPEC, maritime security, missile technologies, and most importantly, efforts in the submarine sector, which is imperative in today’s world.
Currently, PNS (Pakistan Navy Ship) NASR is on a humanitarian and disaster relief mission in drought-affected African countries in line with the policy of the government: “Engage Africa”. Pakistan Navy’s Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) mission is tailored to assist vulnerable populations affected by natural disasters in Africa. Last year, as part of the same diplomatic mission of HADR, Pakistan Navy deployed its two ships “PNS MOAWIN” and “PNS ASLAT” to the African region. This year, the Pakistan Navy ship PNS NASR reached African states such as Djibouti, Sudan, Niger for humanitarian assistance and for goodwill visit Mombasa and Kenya.
Pakistan Navy is playing an important role by trying to execute this new policy which will open wide opportunities for Pakistan and African countries. The government policy is to enhance and explore new freeways of cooperation.
There is huge potential in African countries, but unfortunately, due to the lack of resources and political instability within its countries, it leads them nowhere but hunger and devastating situations. Strategically, it is the right time to establish ties and help African countries with food and medicine aid and assistance. The African market has the potential to become a big economy in the future if it rightly succeeds as it consists of 54 countries and 1.3 billion population.
In recent times, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry held a meeting in Islamabad with prominent African countries to look at the untapped economic potential between the two. Diplomatic and strategic cooperation is the need of the hour, so we have to think about the future and take the right steps to ensure stability in the region. Quite a few analysts believe that Africa is the ‘continent of the future’ so Pakistan is well aware of these developments and eager to develop diplomatic ties with African states. The opening of the embassy in Djibouti is the benchmark of those fruitful meetings of the foreign ministry. Friendly ties with African countries also help in enhancing naval collaboration, which means extending assistance and developing interoperability with host navies. Pakistan Navy stands tall with the government policy related to Africa and does what is best for Pakistan and of course following our national interests.
